My Review: Frozen

Photo: Chris White I finally got a chance to see the two-time Oscar winner and I really thought it was awesome. From the story line t...

Photo: Chris White

I finally got a chance to see the two-time Oscar winner and I really thought it was awesome. From the story line to - of course - the musical score and beyond.

Frozen tells the story of Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell), two princesses, who lost their parents in a ship wreck and are left having to lead their kingdom. Elsa also has a secret that she has kept hidden from everyone including her sister: she has the power to create ice and snow - a beautiful ability that can also be very dangerous if it gets out of hand.

Elsa's powers did get out of hand when she and Anna were younger as Elsa accidentally struck Anna in her head with ice. That forced all memory of Elsa's powers to be wiped from Anna's memory by a magical troll and Elsa and Anna's parents made her shut Anna out completely from fear that Elsa will lose control of her powers again.

In fact, her parents close their entire castle to the outside world. Throughout this part of the film, we see how Anna is always the optimist. Constantly knocking on Elsa's closed door, asking if she "wants to build a snowman." Any interaction would be great for Anna at this point. But, Elsa lives in fear since the accident. A fear she cannot conquer.

When the castle is finally opened for Elsa's coronation, Elsa and Anna come together to celebrate. However, the two have a back-and-forth over Anna's decision to get married to a guy she hardly knows and all the emotions combined trigger Elsa's magic - setting off an eternal winter that puts a stranglehold on the kingdom that Elsa cannot reverse. Since everyone in the kingdom didn't know about her powers before, Elsa runs off, fearing that she'll become this monster that no one will accept and love.

The fearless Anna sets off on an epic journey to find her sister. Along the way, Anna meets Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), an ice seller, and a hilarious snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad) - whom Elsa and Anna built that fateful day when they were children. When Anna finds Elsa, she confronts her about what happened. Elsa is still too afraid and continues to shut out Anna, asking her to leave.

As emotions run high again, Elsa's magic gets out of hand again. This time striking Anna in the heart. This is tragic for both Elsa and Anna as now Anna will slowly freeze to death unless the spell is broken by an act of true love. Without revealing too much more, the act of true love that breaks the spell is somewhat surprising and really sends this movie to a whole new level.

Frozen is a great film. It has an awesome message for everyone to not be afraid of who you are and/or what others think. On the technical side, the animation and effects are brilliantly done and the musical score is jaw dropping. Although I still like Toy Story, Finding Nemo and other Disney films more, Frozen is a must-see for everyone.